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Sunday, February 18, 2018

Thanks to a Tavern Reader, I was pointed to the Gygax Memorial Fund's 2016 Federal Return, which was filed on May 25th, 2017.

The first thing that stood out to me is that the Fund raised a whole 10 bucks in 2016. That takes some special effort to have that little a return. The Fund spent over $3,300 over the same period.

But what really stood out was the Schedule O page.

Isn't that exciting? The Memorial will be completed by May 25th of this year! Just over 3 months away. I need to get my plane tickets and a hotel.

BTW, the 2015 return promised the memorial in 2 years and the 2014 promised it in 5 years. They should have stuck to the initial time frame.

Oh, notice objective "E" above? The Fund was founded in 2010. They STILL haven't started a scholarship?

Like previous years, the Fund has accomplished nothing and keeps losing money.

Another year without even minimal interest being earned. 1% interest would have covered half the expenses - and would have returned over 200 times what their fundraising did. I can see why they haven't uploaded this return to the GMF website - its embarrassing.

For those playing along at home, the year end balance of the GMF since its inception.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

So, thanks to various monthly crates, boxes, grab bags, Kickstarters and the like I have a shit ton of duplicates. Without a local gaming group to bleed off the overflow (and with a reorganization of my gaming collection revealing more of an overlap than i expected) I need to give some of this away.

Thus the announcement of the Tenkar's Tavern Monthly Gift Box of What I Hope is Not all Crap Giveaway.

What is that exactly?

Basically I stuff a Priority Mail box full of gaming shit, new and old. Some may be $100 game books, others old Judges Guild stuff, some Frog God adventures, maybe some 4e and Pathfinder, comics, cards, dice and more - listen - I need to clear space and this is what we are doing. 'Nuff said ;)

How do you get in the running for such a gift of goodness? Comment on this post by 8:59 PM Eastern time FEBRUARY 21st, 2018 (i left the date out). I'll announce the recipient on Tavern Chat around 9:30 PM Wednesday Night, February 21st, 2018. Note, I'm only shipping within the United States. Sorry, but I'm covering shipping and the goodies and International shipping is ridiculous.

So, back on August 17, 2017, the Gygax Memorial Fund announced that Alex Gygax was joining the Fund's Board of Director. You can see it announced here:

As you can see from the first screenshot, he STILL hasn't been added to the listing of the members of the board. Which says a lot about the lack of professionalism with how the GMF Page is maintained. Great way to encourage people to donate when you show you just don't care enough to update what is effectively (or ineffectively) your sales page.

So, Alex is going to help design the memorial? I guess this designed got shelved?

Are we no longer using the guy who made the Fonz statue for the memorial?

Where's the 2016 tax return? The 2015 return was posted in June of 2016. Shouldn't the Fund be filing its 2017 taxes soon? And about that audit that was promised back in 2016... wasn't that supposed to be publicly shared by now? Is the audit why we have no posting of the 2016 return? (and no, deleting posts from Facebook does NOT mean it wasn't promised - remember, we screenshot EVERYTHING)

At least they don't charge extra for "Gamer Size". I was scratching my head as to why they would include 2 #2 pencils until it was pointed out to be that The Trust probably wanted to get the Gygax Trademark on writing implements. I wonder if the Fund is paying a licensing fee to The Trust? Well, its a good way to preempt #ConManKen ;)

If you would be so kind as to email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that Gmailthing with "ConManKen" in the subject of the email we can get the list going.

All I ask is for your first name / pen name and backer level for tracking. I'll post a running tally as to the number of complaints made and total backer dollars of the complaints on one of The Tavern's sidebars.

There are 9 backers of $1k or more on KotDT, including one $5k+ pledge. If you can't get what you backed for in the past you can help Kenny to three hots and a cot in the future...

Edit: Kenny, just so you know. THIS is how you get legitimate federal charges filed. Not threats of imaginary FBI agents waiting at someone's door for Coffee & Donuts to investigate laws that you either made up or fail to understand. You REALLY should never have made those threats Kenny, because the threats themselves are a violation of federal law. Oh, and they pissed me off. Yes they did.2nd Edit: No, you don't own the copyright to the above image.

But, since the license has expired and Ken is no longer capable of achieving the KS, the KS terms of service do kick in at this point.

“Yes. Kickstarter’s Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) We crafted these terms to create a legal requirement for creators to follow through on their projects, and to give backers a recourse if they don’t. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill.”

As Ken cannot legally fulfill this particular KS project because of the expiration of the license, he needs to either issue refunds or be prepared to face possible litigation.

Granted, most of this falls into the “small claims” category (unless there is a class action) and, in most cases, it probably isn’t worth the filing cost. But, if d20 entertainment was a single owner corp, things like corporate veil or even the protections of an LLC would likely not apply so there is a possibility of a judgement going after any and all assets of Ken’s.

It also opens the door for criminal fraud investigation on this particular issue (which could constitute wire fraud). Where such an investigation would lead is another matter entirely but, now that Ken has no further protections on the matter of this kickstarter I’d say he should get AWFULLY helpful really quickly.

But wait! There's more!

With the expiration of his license, Ken can no longer legally fulfill the Kickstarter. With that in mind, it is time for people to start filing legal complaints if he doesn't start issuing refunds.

The below link will take people to the FTC site so that they may report Ken to the FTC. Enough people report him and a criminal investigation will get rolling.

I really don't know what to make of The Princess Bride RPG. While it was a fun movie (with a cult like following) it was never as big a deal to me (as a movie) that it was, and is, to some in my social circles.

The fact that it is powered by FUDGE (I stumbled across the rules in 96 or 97, they were first released in 93) isn't a selling point to me. Sure, the rules creator is also the one behind the Kickstarter, but that still doesn't do much for me.

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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